Ferdinand Lintuan

DXGO and Sun Star

December 24, 2007, in Davao City, Philippines

Lintuan, 51, the father of four children, was shot by two motorcycle-riding assailants as he was driving in downtown Davao City, according to local media reports and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, a press freedom advocacy group. Lintuan had just left DXGO, an AM station owned by the Manila Broadcasting Company, with two colleagues who were uninjured in the attack. The colleagues said the attackers wore helmets with visors that hid their faces.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack. Lintuan was well known for his criticism of local politicians in Davao, a major city on the southern island of Mindanao. Lintuan, a veteran journalist, had been on the air at DXGO for about three months, leasing airtime under a practice known as "block timing."

Lintuan was also a columnist for the regional English-language daily Sun Star. He had recently alleged corruption in a local development project and had criticized illegal logging activities, the Sun Star and other papers reported.

The National Bureau of Investigation sent a team to Davao to assist local police. The government and opposition politicians offered more than 1 million pesos (US$24,000) for information leading to an arrest. The Sun Star said that Lintuan had survived an August 1987 attack inside DXRA radio in Davao. Three others died in the attack.

Motive Unconfirmed: CPJ is investigating to determine whether the death was work-related.